Farecast
Facts
- HQ
- Seattle, Washington
- Sectors
- Travel, Airfare prediction, Online travel
- Stage
- former-startup
Lev names startup veteran Jay Bartot as CTO to build its ‘AI co-founder’ and productize PSL playbook
Lev, a Pioneer Square Labs spinout building an 'AI co-founder' for entrepreneurs, named veteran startup builder Jay Bartot as CTO to help productize the venture-studio playbook and launched Lev Learn, a free guide to startup terminology.
Otto Startup, Led by Expedia Veteran and Madrona Chairman, Raises $6M to Develop AI Assistant for Business Travel Booking
Seattle-based startup Otto, led by Expedia veteran Michael Gulmann and chaired by Steve Singh of Madrona Ventures, is developing an AI virtual assistant using GPT-4 to simplify business travel booking. The company raised $6 million in a seed round led by Madrona and aims to offer its product for free while earning revenue through booking facilitation.
Zeitworks Raises $2M, Jazz Ventures and Madrona Back ML Startup as Jay Bartot Becomes CEO
Seattle startup Zeitworks raised $2 million in new funding from Jazz Ventures and Madrona Venture Group and appointed Seattle tech veteran Jay Bartot as CEO, succeeding Ryan Windham. The company uses machine learning to analyze user interactions and recommend automation or augmentation to improve repetitive business processes and plans to expand pilot customers.
Madrona’s Elisa La Cava interviews Madrona Venture Labs’ Mike Fridgen and FFA’s Leslie Feinzaig on studios vs. accelerators
This Founded and Funded episode compares two paths to venture funding—startup studios (Madrona Venture Labs) and accelerators (Female Founders Alliance’s Ready Set Raise)—with Madrona investor Elisa La Cava interviewing Mike Fridgen and Leslie Feinzaig about how each model supports different types of companies.
Panda AI, spun out of AI2, raises $3.3M with AI2 as first investor from its new pre-seed fund
Panda AI, a stealth startup spun out of the Allen Institute for AI (AI2), raised $3.3 million in a round led by PSL Ventures with participation from AI2 and others; it is the first company to receive funding from AI2’s new pre-seed fund.
Panda AI launches inside AI2 in Seattle, led by CEO Aaron Goldfeder and CTO Yue Ning in stealth mode
Panda AI is a stealth B2B startup launched inside the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) in Seattle, led by CEO Aaron Goldfeder and CTO Yue Ning, both former AI2 entrepreneurs-in-residence. The company — currently two employees with early access interest and Smartsheet co-founder Eric Browne as product advisor — aims to build next-generation tools for knowledge workers using recent AI breakthroughs.
Madrona Venture Labs names entrepreneur Jay Bartot as CTO, joining May 2017 to lead ML and big-data initiatives
Madrona Venture Labs has hired Jay Bartot as Chief Technology Officer; Bartot is a four-time cofounder with expertise in big data, machine learning, and computer vision, and his startups include Farecast, AdRelevance, Medify, and Vhoto.
Hulu buys Vhoto assets, shuts down service and hires most of Seattle startup’s team; Noah Heller joins Hulu
Hulu purchased the assets of Seattle video startup Vhoto last fall, shut down the Vhoto service, and hired most of its team to work in Hulu’s Seattle engineering office. Vhoto founder Noah Heller has moved to Hulu as vice president of audience development and data partnerships; financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
HomeAway acquires Seattle startup Dwellable; will shutter service, relocate six staff to Austin
HomeAway acquired Seattle vacation-rental startup Dwellable, will phase out Dwellable's app and service within 30 days, and is moving six Dwellable employees (including founders Nathan Kriege and Adam Doppelt) to Austin while CEO Kirby Winfield remains in Seattle.
Oren Etzioni, UW Professor and Decide CTO, Discusses Farecast, Siri, Burning Man and Algorithm-Driven Startups
Oren Etzioni, a University of Washington computer science professor, serial entrepreneur and Madrona Venture Group partner, builds algorithm-driven businesses like Farecast and Decide that predict consumer electronics prices. The interview covers his work, views on AI and social networks, experiences with Siri and Burning Man, and advice for computer science students.
